Current electrical and electromechanical systems such as document reproduction machines are increasingly manufactured and sold as separate modular components which can be attached and assembled at the eventual operational site. There is also a desire to provide effective diagnostic programs that electronically monitor the status of the modular components and report any fault conditions (conditions which are outside of expected normal operation) to a convenient display to enhance the ability of both service repair persons and customers to properly diagnose the causes of, and solutions for component malfunctions.
Prior art approaches to modular system diagnostics are typified by the Xerox 5090/family of products, where the electrical control information for all of the modular components anticipated to be connected in the system are pre-stored prior to the core component or components leaving the factory. A hierarchical display illustrates the electrical control topology of each of the modules coupled to the system that can be used as an aid to indicate fault conditions in any of the components of a module. This is essentially a closed architecture approach to document reproduction systems, in that either only predefined modular components are to be attached to the system, or when other modular components are connected to the system (e.g., manufactured or supplied by separate entities that are unrelated to the manufacturer or supplier of the core system components), there is no possibility of either running diagnostics or displaying diagnostic results without modifying the standard user interface.
There is a need to provide a modular system with both an open architecture, and the ability to provide a dynamic electrical control diagrams incorporating the electrical control topology of all of the modules coupled to the system without relying upon pre-stored static or hard coded information. There is also a need to provide such an open architecture system for not only providing display information related to failure of components in the modules, but also modular component status information.